Achieving a Balanced Vegetarian Diet

Regardless of what kind of diet one is consuming, balance is always important. In fact, if I were to get a little philosophical here, in almost any aspect in life, balance is an important factor.

Many conditions and even serious illnesses can result from nutritional imbalances in the body. It is thus important to avoid eating habits which may skew your nutritional intake significantly in any direction.

Here are some ideas I have on consuming a balanced vegetarian diet.

Try to eat a variety of different plant foods, choosing from each of these groups - fruits, vegetables, beans, legumes, nuts, seeds, sprouts and grains.

Within each food group, avoid loading up on a particular kind of food. For example, instead of always only eating kidney beans, try to also consume other types of beans, for example pinto beans and garbanzo beans.

Try to eat as colorful a vegetarian diet as you can. This gives you a wide variety of nutritional elements.

Try to eat foods which are as raw, as whole and as natural and unprocessed as possible, as these foods contain a broader spectrum of various nutrients and phytochemicals (plant chemicals).

Short discussion on supplements

Whole food supplements
are good sources of many vitamins, minerals, enzymes and health-promoting phytochemicals. Because they are made from whole foods, these supplements are usually balanced in their nutritional composition.

However, if you choose to consume certain kinds of
vitamin supplements
or other single-substance supplements (for example calcium supplements, zinc supplements, or vitamin B2 supplements), then I urge caution. This is because such supplements can cause nutritional imbalances in the body.

For one thing, you are putting high doses of that particular substance into your body. This can directly cause an imbalance.

In addition, such substances may hamper your body's ability to absorb some other vitamin or mineral, or it may cause some other nutrient to be leeched from your body. Thus, indirectly, that supplement may also be causing an imbalance in some other way. So, do be careful.

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The information provided on this website is not meant to diagnose, prevent, treat or cure any disease.
It is to be taken as suggestions or educational material and not to be considered professional advice.